The Office Prayer Network That Grew From 2 to 30
Welcome to my office, in the town hall of a town in the south of England where I work as a Social Worker. The office itself is nothing special, but I’m sure like any place of work it’s the people inside that make it worth coming in in the morning.
When I started three years ago I was in a team of 5, where amazingly the manager and one of my colleagues were also Christians. Throughout the first year the three of us would often say, “oh, we should really get together and pray in the office” - but like many of the best intentions, it never happened.
Eventually, after 18 months of being there, and a couple of reminders from other Christian colleagues that we’d met, we launched a small weekly prayer meeting. We didn’t really know if anyone would come, given how “busy” everyone’s working lives are, but gradually by word of mouth we grew and grew.
I can’t say we did anything special to support the growth. We sent out one weekly email, had a Whatsapp group, (very loosely) planned a Bible passage or short series that we would look at - and above all, prayed. Each week it would seem a new member would pop along, sharing that they knew of a couple of other Christians in the office that we didn’t know - sure enough the following week they’d come along too.
By the grace of God, 18 months after we started we became a formally recognised ‘employee support group’ in the council and had a network of some 30 Christians praying for their various departments in the Town Hall - although with anything between 2-3 and 10-11 coming to the weekly lunch.
With prayer becoming a more central part of our work, we’ve seen some incredible answers over the past 18 months; non-Christian colleagues coming to the group and coming to church, a number of healings, including one colleague whose brother was dying in a South African hospital and went on to a full recovery and even Christian and non-Christian managers asking us to pray for specific work issues and strategic decisions.
Who knows what we’ll go on to do together, but what I’ve learnt so far is very simple: Matthew 18:20 says, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.”
What an amazing truth - when just two or three people get together and pray in the name of Jesus, there He is also! So for us, when we gather to pray, we have Jesus present in our office - and we’ve certainly seen the impact.
What about you? Does work often seem like a toilsome grind? There is good news! If there are just two of you who are willing to meet and pray, even for just 5 minutes - Jesus will be there with you! Imagine the impact on your work, your office and indeed your whole organisation with Jesus there too!
Don’t think it’ll make that much difference? Try it and prove me wrong!
| In the Armed Forces’ Christian Union, God has laid it on our hearts to pray for the extension of the Kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ in and through the Armed Forces of the UK and internationally. |
| The CWG in Chelmsford City Council work with Prayer 24/7 in holding a day of prayer for the town of Chelmsford |
| Workplace leaders have pre-recorded prayers for their specific sectors. Why not watch and pray along with them? Please do share these with your church and prayer networks. |
| Remember that it is important to keep your managers and HR involved in what you are doing. In most cases your prayer activities and the means by which you advertise them will require permission from senior managers and HR. |
| Join the midday sector prayer meetings lead by many of our Christian Professional and Sector Group leaders. |
| Our brother Raffaele from Transform Work Italy shares about life with the Coronavirus. Lets keep praying. |
| A simple and attractive way of offering to pray for staff, used within Network Rail - a bright red postbox. Prayer requests are prayed over at the CWG's weekly meeting |
| In the last 31 years as a paramedic I've never seen colleagues scared before... |
| In the next of his series on building a successful Christian Workplace Group, Adrian Miles looks at prayer, which should be at the heart of all the group does |
| Frequently an organisation has Christian groups that meet in buildings in different locations, often some distance from one another. Conference calls are a great way to keep connected across the organisation. |
| Let's follow Haringey Council Christian Workplace Groups example in heading to the 'Prayer Gym' to tone up our spiritual muscles regularly! |
| Set up a facility for anyone within the organisation/workplace to request prayer for any issues they would like. |
| Generally prayer walks can be used when you are praying for the organisation, for the work that goes on there, and for its employees. I |
| Why not use these points when you next meet together as a Christian Workplace Group. Lee also suggests to read and meditate on the following Psalm |